‘Fiscal cliff’ deal keeps feeding the beast

January 10, 2013

Members of Congress who voted for tax increases approved last Tuesday apparently thought keeping the nation headed down the slippery slope toward economic collapse was an acceptable alternative to......

BeepBeep

Our Congress is a disgrace. Instead of making accusations against each other they should concentrate on doing their own job. The House should have stripped the pork out of this bill before they passed it. It is not just the Presiden's job to control spending, the House and Senate are also responsible.

KalvaChomer

This is the second time an editorial here has stated that the sequester was eliminated. It was not eliminated. The agreement pushed it ahead two months to March 1, 2013. It is still on the table, though, based on what we've seen so far, it might as well have been eliminated. It amounts to a second can to be kicked along on the way to the abyss.

Bullhead

I am so thankful that Mr. Obama has appointed as Secretary of the Treasury, a Wall Street insider (who collected a $900,000 bonus on top of his $1,000,000 salary from Citigroup days before it received a government bail-out).

Nothing like letting the foxes guard the hen-house! As long as we all "feel" safer though...

ContraryOne

It is clear that the "job creators" leave failed miserably at their job. They had the tax package they wanted for ten years and did not produce the jobs they promised. Yet their wealth increased massively.

The tax ,increase that was passed was a small increase on the wealthy who don't work, they invest. They don't create jobs.

ContraryOne

Kalva wrote "No kidding ... Obama has so destroyed the economic prospects in America"

Rally? What policies of his have done that?

Do you even remember the economy Obama inherited? Worst recession in 80 years, brought to you by GOP policies. It took eight years to recover from the Great Depression; it took four years to recover from the Bush Crash.

realitycheck

First,who is Beck? Second, it looks like you would rather have a "mouthpiece of the left" correct? This editor fortunately uses "common sense" instead of party line rhetoric. Lets all hope he keeps it up.

realitycheck

"I am so thankful that Mr. Obama has appointed as Secretary of the Treasury, a Wall Street insider (who collected a $900,000 bonus on top of his $1,000,000 salary from Citigroup days before it received a government bail-out)".

"Nothing like letting the foxes guard the hen-house! As long as we all "feel" safer though..."

KalvaChomer

Contrary - "Do you even remember the economy Obama inherited? Worst recession in 80 years, brought to you by GOP policies."

Take a look at the long line of legislation that injected the feddeeral government into the housing market ... FHA (FDR) , Fannie Mae (FDR) (Accounting scandal of 2004) , Ginnie Mae (LBJ) , Freddie Mac (Nixon) Community Reinvestment Act (Carter) ... The whole of it created the "moral hazard" that led to the collapse of the housing market and triggered the financial problems. Our government has a variation on the "Midas touch", everything it touches turns to "crap". And you want more of it !

KalvaChomer

"It took eight years to recover from the Great Depression; it took four years to recover from the Bush Crash."

Both under "socialist" presidents. History shows that the deeper the recession/depression, the quicker the recovery. Equal wealth was wiped out in the Dot Com bust left over from Clinton. The recovery was quick because it was met with business friendly legislation rather than the opposite along with a massive new "entitlement program" (ObamaCare).

"It is clear that the "job creators" leave failed miserably at their job."

Look at the BLS charts for unemployment. From mid-03 to mid-07 the rate was dropping. So how do you get that the Bush tax cuts increased unemployment ?

ContraryOne

Kalva offered this "The whole of it created the "moral hazard" that led to the collapse of the housing market and triggered the financial problems."

This is so from from what really happened that I don't know where to start.

Banks lowered their lending standards for STANDARD loans. Those are the ones that defaulted and helped lead to the economic collapse. Very few loans under CRA standards defaulted.

Even so, the collapse of the housing market would not collapse the financial if other sound banking principles had been followed. Financial institutions became leveraged 30-40 to one, instead of 5-10 to one. This over-leverage left them unable to cope with failing mortgages.

All this right-wing BS about government agencies and programs causing the crises is just part of their hatred for government.